Navigating The Curriculum

Welcome back! In this blog post, we’ll explore the unique structure of our course curriculum. Unlike traditional courses, this one isn’t strictly linear, allowing for flexibility in your learning journey.

Understanding the Course Layout

Prerequisites and Structure

Each section begins with a text lecture titled “Prerequisites,” outlining the minimum sections you need to complete before moving forward. This approach ensures that you build on foundational knowledge as you progress.

Key Sections to Focus On

1. Big O Notation: This is crucial for understanding code efficiency and performance. It’s a recurring theme throughout the course, so don’t skip it!
2. Analyzing Performance: A quick dive into how Big O notation applies to arrays and objects, preparing you for more complex topics.
3. Problem-Solving Techniques: Learn strategies for tackling challenging problems, whether in interviews or personal projects. This includes two essential sections:
   • Problem Solving Approach: Frameworks for thinking through problems.
   • Problem Solving Patterns: Specific coding patterns like divide and conquer, sliding window, and frequency counter.
4. Recursion: A fundamental topic that appears in many algorithms. This section includes challenges to test your understanding.
5. Algorithms:
   • Searching Algorithms: Explore methods like binary search.
   • Sorting Algorithms: Covering bubble sort, selection sort, insertion sort, merge sort, quicksort, and the rare but fascinating radix sort.

Transition to Data Structures

After algorithms, the course shifts focus to data structures:

• Linked Lists: Both singly and doubly linked lists.
• Stacks and Queues: Commonly used structures.
• Trees and Tree Traversal: Including binary search trees and traversal methods like BFS and DFS.
• Advanced Topics: Binary heaps, hash tables, graphs, and even Dijkstra’s algorithm for finding the shortest path in graphs.

  Flexibility in Learning

  While the course has a designed order, you’re encouraged to use the prerequisite guides to tailor your learning path. Whether you start with Big O notation or jump to a specific data structure, the course supports diverse learning styles.

Final Thoughts

Remember, this curriculum is designed to build on itself, but offers the flexibility to explore topics that interest you most. As you embark on this journey, pay close attention to the prerequisites and enjoy the learning process.

See you in the course!